The invention relates to automobile racing and, more particularly, to a device for measuring the circumference of a tire, monitoring the run out of the tire, cleaning debris from the tire, or scuffing the surface of the tire.
During automobile racing, the tires of a racing car are continuously checked for variations in dimensions due to changes in temperature, pressure, the condition of the race track, or other conditions.
Some automobile racing crews manually check the circumference of the tires by wrapping a tape measure around the tire. Due to various conditions of a race track, debris is removed from the tire by hand using a scraper tool, and the surface of the tire is roughed up by hand using a wire brush or grinder.
There are several kinds of devices for measuring diameter of objects. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,484 to Frank et al. The diameter measuring device includes a wheel for contacting an object, an encoder and a microprocessor for calculating the diameter of the object. However, the measuring device is for use with a lathe for rotating the object to be measured and does not include means for rotating the object.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,200 to Bahr et al. discloses a measuring device having a contact wheel and two support arms. However, the measuring device is for use on a cylinder positioned in a roll grinding machine and does not have a rotation means for the cylinder.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus for inspecting and preparing automobile tires which is transportable, including an attached mounting means for the automobile tire, and which includes an accurate and convenient means for measuring and/or preparing the tire.